Peuhsylvania



'E. 1-. STOVER.

CAR COUPLING..

APPLICATION FILED OCT-1.1916.

1,312,593. Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT orr cn.

EDGAR J. STOVER, 0F YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

CARL-COUPLING.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, EDGAR J. S'rovER, a citizen of the United States, residing at York, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. 7 r

This invention relates to automatic car couplers of the type comprising a jaw and a pivoted knuckle and a locking pin to hold the knuckle against movement into open position when closed, andan object of the invention is to provide simple, durable and eflicient automatic means for moving the knuckle to open position when the pin is moved into unlocking position; also to provide novel means for holding the pin against movement into locking position when moved into unlocking position.

Other objects will appear and be better understood from that embodiment of my invention of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming apart thereof, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan' view of a coupler head,

Fig. 2 is a section taken on-the line aa of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 0-0 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line (Z(Z of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a detail view, showing the means for holding the locking pin against movement into locking position, the weight for raising the pin being shown in raised posi tion when moved into unlocking position,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the locking in, p Fig. 7 is a detail view of one of the fingers of the coupling knuckle.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the numeral 1 designates the coupler head, which is adapted to beattached to the draw bar of a car in the usual manner. The outer end of the head is jaw shaped, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawing, and a knuckle 2 is pivoted to one of the jaws by means of a pivot pin 3. The knuckle 2 is provided with a pair of right angularly extending fingers 4:, which operate in recesses 5 formed in the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 7, 1916.

Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

Serial No. 124,311.

coupler head, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing. A horizontally reciprocating rod 6 is operable within a passage 7, which has one end communicating with the recess 5, and the outer end of the rod 6 has suitable pivotal connection with the knuckle 2. The in ner end of the rod 6 extends into the lower end of a vertically extending recess 8, that has its lower end communicating with the inner end of the passage 7, and the said recess communicates with a vertical recess 9 formed in the head adjacent the rear end thereof. A bell crank lever 10 is pivoted Within the recess 8, adjacent the upper end of the recess by means of a pivot pin 11, and the said bell crank lever has one arm thereof extended downwardly and terminally secured to the inner end of the reciprocating rod 6, and the opposite arm of the bell crank lever extends into the recess 9 and has connection with a lug 12, which depends from the under side of a weight 13.

A locking pin 15 is slidably mounted within a vertical recess 16 formed in the head 1, and which communicates with the recesses 5. The pin 15 is provided with a pair of diagonally extending slots 17, which are arranged one above the other. The fingers 4: of the knuckle have their free terminals beveled downwardly from their upper edges at 18, as shown in Figs. 2 and 7 of the drawing. When the pin 15 is in locking position, the extensions 18 on the fingers 4: will engage the sides of the pin 15 at points above adjacent slots 17 and hold the knuckle against movement. As shown inFig. 2. the wider sides of the beveled portions 18 oppose the pin 15, and the lower ends of the slots 17 are located on that side of the pin which opposes the beveled portions 18. When the pin is moved upwardly to aline the slots 17 with the beveled portions 18, the fingers 41 will be released and admit of the knuckle 2 being swung to open position. When the knuckle 2 is in closed position, as shown in Figs. 1, 3 andl, the fingers 41 will lie behind the pin 15 and the rod 6 will be moved inwardly and retain the bell crank lever 10 in the position shown in Fig. 3, so as to support the weight 13 in raised position.

When it is desired to move the knuckle 2 into open position, the pin 15 is raised vertically, so as to aline the slots 17 with the extensions 18. The weight 13 will then descend and rock the bell crank lever so as to move the rod 6 outwardly, and effect an outward movement of the knuckle 2 and the fingers l.

A lever 19 is located above the upper side of the head 1 and is pivoted between a pair of vertical ears, designated 20. One end of the lever 19 is bifurcated and engaged beneath a head 21 on the upper end of the locking pin 15. The opposite end of the lever 19 overlies a vertical recess 22 formed in the head 1 at a point opposite the recess 16, and operable within the recess 22 is a weight 23, which has connection with the adjacent end of the lever 19 by means of a connecting lug 24:. The weight 22 has depending from the under side thereof a vertically disposed pin 25, the lower end of which projects into a relatively narrow "ertical recess 26, which has its upper end opening into the lower end of the recess 22. A bell crank lever 27 is pivoted within the recess 26 and has one arm pivotally connected to the lower end of the pin 25, and the other arm pivoted to a rod 28, which has its outer end slidably extendopen position by means of the weight 13 and assoclated parts so as to be directed forwardly of the coupling head at an angle thereto. During the coupling operation, the knuckle 2 is engaged by the opposed coupling head so as to be swung inwardly about the pivot pin 3, rod 28 being forced inwardly by the opposed head when the coupling operation is practically completed. During this inward movement of the knuckle, the beveled portions 18 of the fingers 4: engage into the recesses 17 of the locking pin so as to effectually prevent movement of this pin into full locking position before the coupling is completed. Inward movement of rod 28 raises the weight 23 thus permitting the pin 15 to drop into full locking, position as soon as the coupling operation is completed and the fingers 4: are positioned entirely within the recesses 5, this instantaneous dropping of the pin into locking position serving to effectually prevent rebound of the fingers, and the pin acting positively as a locking member to retain the knuckles of the opposed heads in closed position. When it is desired to release the coupling, the pin 15 is raised manually so as to aline the slots 17 thereof with the fingers 1, the beveled portions 18 of these fingers passing readily through the recesses orslots so as to permit ready outward movement of the knuckle. When the uncoupling operation has been completed, rod 28 is free to be projected beyond the front of head 1, the weight 23 acting to rock lever 19 so as to raise pin 15 and retain it in raised position.

It is evident that various changes might be resorted to in the construction, form and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention; hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the structure hereindescribed and claimed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new is:

1. In a car coupler, the combination with a head having a knuckle pivoted thereto and provided with fingers, and a vertically movable locking pin for engaging the fingers when the knuckle is in closed posltion provlded with a head; of a lever pivoted on the coupler head and having one end bifurcated and engaging beneath the head on thelocking pin, and means for efiecting raising of the bifurcated end of the lever when the locking pin is moved to unlocking position so as to hold the locking pin in such position.

2. A car coupler comprising a head, a knuckle pivoted to the head, a vertically movable locking element adapted to prevent movement of the knuckle when the knuckle is in closed position, said knuckle being provided with members adapted to be engaged by the locking element so as to hold the knuckle against movement, a lever having one end operatively connected to the locking element, a weight for moving said lever so as to raise the locking element and normally hold the same in unlocking position, a bell crank lever having one arm thereof operatively connected to the weight, and a horizontally movablerod connected to the other arm of the bell crank lever and adapted when moved inwardly torock the bell crank lever so as to effect raising of the Weight to permit raising of the adjacent end of the first mentioned lever and lowering of the locking element into locking position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDGAR J. sTovEa- Witnesses:

FRANKLIN LEADER, J. F. STINE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G." 

